Top Stories November 23rd

Thanksgiving Weather Forecast Looks Warm

11/23/11 - Thanksgiving travelers will no doubt be thankful for the warmer-and-dry weather they'll have in Wisconsin. And they'll only have a few construction projects to deal with. Don Greuel of the state D-O-T said most of this year's road projects were completed before Thanksgiving. About the only work that could require extra time for drivers is on the Highway 41 expressway in the Appleton and Green Bay areas. The State Patrol expects the heaviest traffic to come later today and on Sunday. As for the weather, some lingering fog is supposed to disappear by mid-morning. Highs are supposed to get up to the mid-40's, but it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. Thanksgiving Day highs could reach 50 in the north, and the upper-50s in the south. The National Weather Service said the warmest Thanksgiving was in 1914, when Milwaukee had 65-degrees and Madison had 64. The normal high for the holiday is just 39 in Madison, and 42 in Milwaukee.

WI Lawmakers Looking to Remove Statute of Limitations in Sex Abuse Cases

11/23/11 - The Penn State case is being cited as a reason to let Wisconsin child sex abuse victims file civil lawsuits against their molesters -- no matter how long it takes for the victims to come to grips with it. Senate Democrat Julie Lassa of Stevens Point and Assembly Democrat Sandy Pasch of Whitefish Bay said yesterday they would try again to pass the Child Victims Act. It would end the statute-of-limitations in which child sex abuse victims cannot sue their perpetrators after the victims turn 35. And it would provide a two-year period for victims to re-file their cases if they were previously turned back by the statute-of-limitations. They called adult sex abuse of children an epidemic. And as the Badgers get ready to play Penn State in football this weekend, they cited the case in which former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is charged with molesting eight boys for over a decade in the 1990's. The bill's supporters say many abuse victims need years to get the courage to challenge their perpetrators in court. And they say an age limit of 35 for civil suits is arbitrary. But previous efforts to approve the Child Victims Act were met with opposition by concerns it would bankrupt churches, violate due process rights of adults, and treat government workers less harshly due to the sovereign immunity they have.

Wold Sentencing Date Staying Put

11/23/11 - A judge in Waukesha has ordered an involuntary medical exam and feedings of food-and-medicine to a man convicted this month in the death of his ex-girlfriend. Circuit Judge James Kieffer issued the order today, after prosecutors said Darren Wold has eaten nothing since November second. That's when a jury convicted him of hiring a hit-man to kill Kimberly Smith of Oconomowoc. District Attorney Brad Schimel told the judge that Wold has stayed in his bunk at the Waukesha County Jail since his conviction -- and he's only been up to make a few phone calls to his parents. Schimel said the 43-year-old Wold was in declining health, and he had to be hospitalized overnight this month. The D-A wanted Wold to be sentenced earlier than his planned date of December 20th, because state prisons are better able to deal with situations like this. But that date won't change, because the defense lawyers say they can't change their schedule. A jury found that Wold and Jack Johnson hired Justin Welch for seven-thousand-dollars to kill Smith at her home two years ago, so Wold could have sole custody of the young boy he and Smith had. Johnson is due to be sentenced December second. Welch is serving a life term, but he can be considered for a supervised release in 42 years when he's 70.

Hunters Died of Natural Causes

11/23/11 - Four Wisconsin deer hunters have died since the nine-day gun season began last Saturday, all from natural causes. The latest victim is 80-year-old Elmer Schuh of rural Brillion. His body was found Monday night after a two-and-a-half hour search of a wooded area in Manitowoc County. A deputy coroner said Schuh had a pre-existing heart condition. In north central Wisconsin, Taylor County authorities said yesterday that two hunters died from natural causes late Saturday. They were 71-year-old Richard Penning of Janesville and 62-year-old Kenneth Weber of Racine. Officials said Weber had a possible heart attack. And in Bayfield County, a hunter who died Saturday from natural causes was identified yesterday as 86-year-old Claus Korndoerfer of Racine. D-N-R officials said the deer harvest was slightly ahead of last year, at least during the opening weekend. The gun season runs through Sunday.

Local Opening Weekend Deer Harvest Numbers

11/23/11 - There were less deer taken in Dodge County on the opening weekend of the nine-day gun season this year compared to last year, but Dodge County was the only county in the region that didn’t see an increase. Hunters in Dodge County this year took 682 bucks and 626 antlerless deer for a total 1308, which is 111 fewer deer than last year. Other counties in the region were up. Columbia County reported 2441, which is two more deer than last year. The deer take in Jefferson County this weekend was at 936, an increase of 21 deer since last year. Hunters in Washington County harvested 603 deer this year compared to 487 last year. Fond du Lac County hunters took 40 more deer than last year for a total of 950. Statewide an estimated 112,581 deer were killed during the opening weekend. That's a six-percent increase from a year ago. The D-N-R says the final weekend tally will probably be higher because the preliminary count was based on phone calls to registration stations before the final deadline. According to the early figures, almost 58-thousand bucks were killed -- about 45-hundred more than a year ago. And almost 55-thousand antlerless deer were taken, 25-hundred more than last year.

Man Injured in Accident Still in the Hospital

11/23/11 - One of the two people seriously injured in an accident in the town of Alto late last month is still in the hospital. 35-year-old James Iverson Senior of Waupun is listed in satisfactory condition at a Milwaukee hospital. The accident on Highway 49 happened during the early afternoon hours of October 30th. Authorities say a semi driven by a 37-year-old Sheboygan man pulled out from a stop sign to make a left hand turn, right into the path of a southbound pickup and the two collided, trapping both pickup truck occupants. According to witnesses, the pickup truck slid underneath the tanker portion of the semi, taking the top off the pickup cab. Iverson Sr and his 10-year-old son, James Iverson Jr., had to be extricated from the vehicle and were flown via Flight For Life to Milwaukee area hospitals. Iverson Jr. was treated and released.

Wisconsin Leads Nation In Job Losses

11/23/11 - Wisconsin had the nation's biggest job losses in October -- and the Badger State was one of just 11 where payrolls declined on a seasonally-adjusted basis. That's according to figures released today by the U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics. State officials reported a week ago that 97-hundred jobs were lost in Wisconsin last month, including 93-hundred in the private sector. New York State had the second-biggest losses with 83-hundred. Illinois added the most jobs in October, with around 30-thousand. California was next at just under 26-thousand. Wisconsin was among 36 states where jobless rates fell in October. The seasonally-adjusted rate in the Badger State fell one-tenth-of-a-point, to seven-point-seven percent. The federal government said the states had their bright unemployment pictures since April, when rates fell in 39 states. Wisconsin's rate is in about the middle-of-the-pack. North Dakota has the lowest rate, three-and-a-half percent. Nevada is the highest at 13-point-four.

GOP Hoping to Assign Their Own Poll Workers

11/23/11 - Republicans plan to use a little-known state law that allows each party to appoint poll workers throughout Wisconsin. The law is designed to let parties directly watch the voting process, to make sure it's accurate. Most local clerks have arranged their own poll workers for years. But according to the Wisconsin State Journal, each party can submit lists of poll workers. And the clerks must choose them in numbers proportionate to the percentage of the vote the parties received at each polling place in the last election for governor or president. The G-O-P is not saying why it wants its own poll workers. Graeme Zielinski of the State Democratic Party figures it has something to do with the new voter I-D law. And he says Democrats will keep letting communities choose their own workers because quote, "That's the way it's always been done." Diane Hermann-Brown, head of the state Municipal Clerks Association, says it's been at least a dozen years since parties submitted poll worker lists in Sun Prairie where she's the clerk. But Hermann-Brown said some places get them every election -- including West Bend, where parties have had poll workers for a decade. Parties have until November 30th to submit their lists for next year.

Banks Doing Better

11/23/11 - Wisconsin banks are doing better these days. The F-D-I-C says that one-of-every-eight banks did not make money in the third quarter of the year. In 2010, one-of-every-five banks had lost money from July-through-September. Bank consultant David Donihue said Wisconsin's 271 banks had combined earnings of 316-million-dollars in the most recent quarter. That's more than twice the profits of a year ago. Donihue said things are looking up, but there still needs to be improvement. He said the figures were adjusted to be a true comparison, after M-and-I Bank was sold to Canada's B-M-O Financial Group. M-and-I put a strain on previous banking reports, as it lost money for eight straight quarters before it was sold. Johnson Bank of Racine had the state's biggest loss from a year ago, at 19-and-a-half million dollars. Associated Bank of Green Bay had the largest net income at 49-million dollars. Nationally, F-D-I-C acting chairman Martin Gruenberg said banks have improved a lot since the financial crisis of late 2008. But he said the recovery is not complete by any means. He cites a continued distress in local real estate markets. And Gruenberg said many bank loans are still risky, due to a slow growth in jobs and personal incomes.

Madison Teachers Sick Notes To Be Released

11/23/11 - Newspaper readers in Madison could soon find out what types of illnesses teachers claimed they had, when they turned in sick notes during the pro-union protests in February. Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ordered the Madison School District to give copies of over a-thousand sick notes to the Wisconsin State Journal. The paper asked for them under the state's Open Records Law. But school officials refused to release them, saying they would have embarrassed the teachers and put out medically-sensitive information. Judge Colas said the district broke the records law with its blanket denial. Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad says his district is considering an appeal. Otherwise, they have 10 days to turn over the sick notes -- and the judge told the school district to pay for the newspaper's legal costs in pursuing the records. State Journal editor John Smalley says the paper plans to report the general nature of the illnesses that were claimed, and not name the individual instructors involved. Madison public schools were closed for four days after teachers called in sick -- and many went to the State Capitol to protest the law which took away most of their collective bargaining privileges. Last week, the state Medical Examining Board reprimanded seven doctors for handing out medical excuses on the streets outside the Capitol.

Recall Organizers Offer Reward

11/23/11 - A liberal group announced a 10-thousand-dollar reward today for information that leads to the conviction of anyone who destroys recall petitions. The head of One Wisconsin Now, Scot Ross, said his group hopes to discourage the destroying of recall petitions -- which is a felony under state law. Ross said the reward was motivated by reports of one petition being destroyed in Madison, and a Facebook page advocating the destruction of signed petitions. Recall drives began a week ago against the governor, lieutenant governor, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, and three other senators -- all of whom are Republicans. The state G-O-P has launched its own Web site where people are encouraged to report petition fraud. It has also publicized Facebook posts from people claiming they signed petitions more than once, or used other people's names. Both are against the law. The petitions must be filed by January 17th to the state Government Accountability Board. At least 540-thousand valid signatures are needed to order a recall election against Governor Scott Walker -- and a separate 540-thousand are needed for a vote against Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.

Six UW Campuses Offering Voter-Friendly IDs

11/23/11 - Six of the U-W's 26 campuses have said they'll give special I-D's to students if they need them to vote. The flagship campus in Madison became the latest yesterday. System officials said Milwaukee, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Green Bay, and Whitewater have also unveiled plans to hand out supplemental I-D's that can be used only for voting. That's because the schools' main I-D's are good for longer than the two years allowed by Republicans when they passed the voter I-D law. A seventh campus, Superior, plans to shorten the length of all of its I-D's to two years. U-W spokesman David Giroux said the other schools have not decided how to handle the matter. Madison officials say it will cost them an extra 100-thousand dollars to make the special voter I-D's over a five-year period.

Farmers Completing Harvest Work Before Thanksgiving

11/23/11 - Wisconsin farmers are getting more of their harvesting work done before Thanksgiving. Officials said 90-percent of the state's corn-for-grain was brought in by Sunday -- nine-percent more than the average for the past five years. Farmers are getting more field work done, too. Seventy-four percent of it is complete, well ahead of the norm. And observers say the winter wheat crop is looking good. Farmers were helped by above-normal temperatures last week. It's still dry in northwest Wisconsin, where almost two-thirds of soils are short to very-short of moisture. The rest of the state's doing fine, with 70-percent of fields having adequate moisture levels.